My Brushes Pro

If you have an iPad or tablet and need a fantastic app to release your artistic creativity, I vote for the My Brushes Pro app! I like this a lot better than the adobe sketch app, but I do like the realism of the Adobe one. This was/is a free app, and I just use a soft-ended stylus that I got from the Dollar Tree. I found a style of art that I really like! The flowers were done using a mirroring technique the app provides. The others are more free hand.

What do y'all think of the results? I love the smudgey, blended, shiny look, but that's just me.

Numbers

Life is all about numbers, even if you don't like math. Here is my story in numbers.

12: the age I first became obsessed with my weight
220: the weight that first made me cry (at 12)
15: the size of jeans I wore until I started college
5.9: the height  I always thought was "perfect"
18: the age I left home for the first time, and the biggest size of jeans most stores carry
2013: the year I got married
263: the heaviest I have ever weighed in at
0: the number of friends that stuck with me after high school
175: my weight senior year
104: the times I chose to wear something baggy so others wouldn't have to look at my rolls


I mention a lot of weight numbers for a reason: even when I was thin at 170 lbs, I still thought I was fat. I still had rolls, my jeans were size 15, my shirt was an xl. None of my thin friends wore clothes that size. It has taken a long time (almost 5 years from the time I graduated high school) to realize numbers are all that I was worried about. Looking back at photos of me from that time, I can't believe how thin my face was! I know better now. Its not that I am any more used to purchasing higher sized clothing or that I have grown comfortable with the numbers, its simply that I recognize there is more to me than the weekly addition and subtraction.

A body is more than its fat content. Now that I'm in a spinning class, I can feel things differently. I can push harder and know that, even if I stumble out of the room, I did it. I have less fear of doing things, period. I am now able to measure my success by what I have accomplished, how I reacted to the situation, how hard I was able to push ...

Of course, it is also a huge help that I understand my body and how it works a lot better than when I was 18. We women are told to eat a little and exercise a lot, stay away from fatty foods, and that chocolate will cause you to break out. Here's a fun little fact: in the past month, I have lost 6 pounds by eatting high-fat foods. Fat is good for us to eat. Our body needs fat to function. And 900 calories a day is borderline starvation.

Quit basing your worth on your dress measurements! That goes for all sizes.

Nostalgia

Hi all! I have been taking a lot of time to revamp my blogs, including trying to find a new profile picture. As I was digging through my facebook images, I came across some that I wanted to share! It actually inspired me to create a numbers story ... so stay tuned for that!

Me at 18

 

 

 

 

My wedding day at 21

Me and my sister (18 and 15)

Me and my sister (21 and 18)

 

#BikiniReadyLifestyle

Hey everyone! So in my last post, I told you about the Bikini Ready energy gummies I got from Influenster. One of their requests is a post about my secrets to a bikini ready lifestyle. Let's do it!


Firstly, I don't wear bikinis BUT I do love to swim!

My secret to getting ready for swimming season:

1) Drink lots of water!

2) Take vitamins and minerals to keep your body healthy!

3) Take 3 tablespoons of coconut oil throughout the day. There are so many health benefits to coconut oil, its insane!

4) Stay active! I take a spinning class to get my heart rate up and to SWEAT! The key is to do something other than sit, though. Walk around the block, tighten and loosen the muscles of your body one at a time as you do dishes, things like that.

#BikiniReadyLifestyle